Elizabeth Caballero (Mimi) and Eric Margiore (Rodolfo) in Central City Opera’s all-new production of La Bohème.

Puccini’s ever-popular “La Bohème” is defined by music and characters that keep the ears alert and the emotions engaged. And in the Central City Opera’s all-new production of the time-tested treasure, director Kevin Newbury — in his first summer here — takes pains to ensure that the action and atmosphere don’t interfere with the melody and character-driven plot.

Sung in Italian, this “Bohème” is set in 1930s Paris when the international capitol was a hub for artists, writers and thinkers. With an intentionally meager, yet magical, set design by David Korins — and despite Jessica Jahn’s drab and dowdy costumes — Newbury evokes the romance and hard reality of bohemian life in a rundown apartment in the Latin Quarter.

Tenor Eric Margiore makes a notable CCO debut as Rodolfo, a poet who falls for the fair and fragile Mimi, sung by soprano Elizabeth Caballero. Demonstrating ample squillo – a resonant, poignant vocal quality that easily carries above the thick orchestration of the score – Margiore brought lyricism and expressivity to his role, especially as his voice became freer in the third and fourth acts.

Deborah Voigt during the rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera on January 19, 2012.

Robert Lepage’s acclaimed new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, will air on PBS’ “Great Performances at the Met,” Sept. 11-14, on PBS.

The third time may be the charm for PBS, which has aired the complete Ring Cycle twice before: In 1983, Patrice Chereau’s production of the Ring conducted by Pierre Boulez from the Bayreuth Festival, and in 1990, Live from the Met presented Otto Schenk’s Metropolitan Opera production, conducted by James Levine.

Great opera takes a lot of planning — choosing titles, booking singers, hounding composers to finish the work you commissioned. And for a company like the Santa Fe Opera that means sealing the deal on every next season before the current season even starts.

And so this week, with 2012 coming down the wire, the company shifted the focus – at least for a minute – to 2013, announcing the good things to come 13 months from now.

Things appear promising to say the least. The company will maintain its commitment to developing a new work each season while breathing life into the warhorses with fresh productions. The lineup of singers is top-notch as usual.

And before this becomes one of those long curtain speeches that can kill a good bit of opera, we’ll give it to you — copied straight from the company’s press release, which just zinged in via email.

We’re talking titles in the short term, with dates to come later. Here goes.

The good news for Bach fans, and that’s pretty much everyone who appreciates classical music, is the formation of the new Colorado Bach Ensemble, which debuts with performances in Denver and Fort Collins next month.

The ensemble arrives with some interesting personnel, primarily its founder, James Kim, who directs choral studies for Colorado State University. Kim has conducted internationally and just returned from Stuttgart, Germany, where he worked on a production of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Not coincidentally, the work is on the program for the ensemble’s first concerts.

Jonas Kaufmann takes the title role, Marina Poplavskaya sings the role of Marguerite, and René Pape plays the devil in a new production of Gounod’s “Faust,” directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff in his Met debut.

Under McAnuff’s direction, the opera is updated to the first half of the 20th century.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who recently won raves for his “Don Carlo,” conducts.

“Faust” will be broadcast Sunday, May 13, as part of PBS’ “Great Performances at the Met,” locally 1-4:30 p.m. on KRMA-Channel 6.

Based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 19th-century novel, Laitman’s work will feature two of classical music’s most sought-after stars, Elizabeth Futral, singing the role of Hester Prynne, and tenor James Valenti as Arthur Dimmesdale in his Opera Colorado debut. Baritone Morgan Smith will perform as Roger Chillingworth. The librettist is Colorado Poet Laureate David Mason. It will be the first-ever new production in Opera Colorado’s history.

Matthew Halls has conducted Central City Opera productions for three consecutive summers.

British conductor Matthew Halls, who has led three Central City Opera productions and is a presumed candidate to be music director of the Colorado Symphony, was recently named artistic director of the well-respected Oregon Bach Festival.

“It’s a magnificent festival with an excitingly broad artistic outlook, performing repertoire (both choral orchestral and choral) from the baroque through to the present day,” Halls said in an e-mail.

“Making my debut appearance at the festival this summer, I was immediately struck by the high levels of talent and commitment amongst the musicians and staff, the ingenuity of the programming and the warmth and support of the local community. These factors all add up to something of a musical utopia.”

Halls, 35, is set to take over the position in 2013, succeeding Helmuth Rilling, the festival’s founding artistic director.

The Metropolitan Opera is presenting the world premiere of 'The Enchanted Island," with a pastiche score of music by such famed baroque composers as Handel, Rameau and Vivaldi.

The classical-music world has faced its share of challenges in recent years, including aging audiences and flagging ticket sales. But one bright spot has been the Metropolitan Opera’s live high-definition transmissions to movie theaters worldwide.

Last year, more than 2.6 million tickets to the presentations were sold worldwide. And this year, the Met has broadened its reach even further, adding such countries as China, Israel and Morocco. In all, about 1,600 theaters in 51 countries will screen the broadcasts.

The 2011-12 edition of “The Met: Live in HD” will feature 11 live Saturday-morning transmissions from the famed New York opera company, including a world premiere and a house debut. The first one is set for Oct. 15.

Below is the full season schedule, with most operas beginning at 10:55 a.m.

General director Charles MacKay is continuing the Santa Fe Opera's dedication to the new.

The economic news could hardly be grimmer, but the Santa Fe Opera is not backing down from the artistic adventuresomeness that has long been its hallmark.

The international company announced Aug. 10 that it will present three new operas, one each season beginning in 2013. What sets the this ambitious initiative apart even more is that two of the three works are by women, still something of a rarity in the opera world.

Leading off the projects will be “Oscar,” a work based on the life of Oscar Wilde. It will be composed by Thomas Morrison, a professor of music emeritus at the University of Michigan, with a libretto by Ken Cox, who has directed six productions in Santa Fe.

In her first venture into the operatic realm, composer Jennifer Higdon will create the score for “Cold Mountain.” Gene Scheer will write the libretto, which is to be based on Charles Frazier’s book of the same title. Adapted into a film in 2003, it tells the story of a Civil War deserter returning to his hometown as the conflagration is coming to an end.

The Santa Fe Opera’s final new offering will be the American premiere of Judith Weir’s “Miss Fortune,” which was first presented earlier this year at the Bregenz Festival in Europe. Two of Weir’s earlier operas also received their American debuts in Santa Fe.